Lafayette Oatmeal Festival warms stomachs on frigid morning

Celebration includes run, generous oatmeal toppings bar

January is National Oatmeal Month and oat lovers looking to celebrate Saturday knew exactly where to do it.

More than 2,000 people braved snow and single-digit temperatures to attend Lafayette's annual oatmeal festival, the only such event in the country.

The 17th Annual Lafayette Quaker Oatmeal Festival was held at Pioneer Elementary School, and required nearly 300 volunteers, 8 million oats, and thousands of oatmeal pancakes and muffins.

Though the frigid weather dragged attendance down by about 35 percent from last year's total, people came from across from the region to fill up on heart-healthy oatmeal and, more importantly, experience Lafayette's self-proclaimed world's biggest oatmeal toppings bar.

The approximately 120 toppings ranged from brown sugar to garlic peanuts, and just about everything in between.

The first Oatmeal Festival featured more than 30 toppings, and that number has climbed every year. The introduction of bacon at last year's bar was met with such rave reviews that Trumbo could only think of one area of need heading into 2013's event: "More bacon."

Additionally, this year's toppings bar included a new savory section, highlighted by candied jalapeños and French fried onions.

Pioneer's gymnasium-turned-dining room was consistently packed with oatmeal loyalists, some of whom have attended all 17 festivals. Five-year-old Ben Redding has already been to four of them, though his aversion to the giant Quaker Oats mascot might dissuade him from attending next year.

"I'm scared of those kind of guys," he said. "They don't look real."

The eco-friendly festival featured compostable cutlery, bowls and trays. The 2012 event produced more than 1,500 pounds of recyclable and compostable materials, compared with just 30 pounds of trash. This year's totals won't be available for another week, but Trumbo thinks they might be might be even better.

"Zero waste is the goal," she said. "It's a priority and a mentality in Boulder County."

Along with breakfast, the festival featured a baking contest and a 40-booth health fair and blood drive, as well as a mid-morning 5K walk/run. Though about 800 people registered to participate in the 5K, Trumbo suspects that only half of them followed through. Paul Jarvis, one of the first to finish the race, credited the oatmeal breakfast with motivating him to finish.

"My whole beard was covered in ice and I couldn't feel my feet," he said. "I was just trying to think about the toppings."

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